Examples of nuclear terrorism

[Zixinus]

We all heard the argument before: we shouldn't use nuclear power because terrorists can get hold of the stuff and then we are really fucked.

Now, there are allot of reasons why this argument is faulty. I am not in a debate about this, so we shall not get into listing why and how its bad.

What I would like to ask however, is a list of incidents where terrorists actually used radioactive materials or have targeted a nuclear power plant.

I am looking for any documented case of terrorists assaulting a NPP or just using nuclear materials or technology to commit terrorism.

To me, if I were a terrorist leader, I wouldn't bother; there are many, cheaper and more simple ways to tell a nation that I really fucking hate them. A detonator made out of stuff from a chemistry/pharmacy shop, some artificial fertilizer and a modified alarm clock is enough to make people shit their pants. To me, going nuclear is just a waste of allot of effort for little potential result.

[The Spartan]

To me, if I were a terrorist leader, I wouldn't bother; there are many, cheaper and more simple ways to tell a nation that I really fucking hate them. A detonator made out of stuff from a chemistry/pharmacy shop, some artificial fertilizer and a modified alarm clock is enough to make people shit their pants. To me, going nuclear is just a waste of allot of effort for little potential result.

I don't know of any specific examples of nuclear terrorism, but this is mistaken. You seem to misunderstand the general populace's fear of nuclear anything (certainly in America). It's not about having a huge impact through damage. It's about scaring the ever-living fuck out of them.

[Sea Skimmer]

Chechen terrorists planted two different radiological bombs loaded with Caesium-137 in Russia, one in a park in Moscow and one near Grozny. The former was found after the Chechens themselves tipped off the media, the later one was found by security patrols, neither detonated. These are the only confirmed cases of radioactive terrorism. Cs-137 is the same element involved in the Golania accident, which killed several people.

The main value of such weapons would be they serve as excellent weapons of mass disruption. If you set one off it would take weeks or months to finish washing away all traces do the contamination, and even then background levels might still be elevated, causing general fear and panic. Imagine if a five block radius of the center of a major city had to be sealed off that long, the economic damage alone would be tremendous.

If you actually wanted to sicken and kill people… well that’s not likely to work out. Any element radioactive enough to do that is probably just going to kill the people making the bomb, and the half lives tend to be pretty short too. Still, it is very possible that terrorists could get hold of say old x-ray machines, and use the material inside to build a radiological bomb that would present a real threat. But since terrorists attacks never accomplish much of anything by killing people anyway, a weapon which spreads fear but doesn’t kill might actually work out to be quite effective.

[Zixinus]

What about attacks on a Nuclear Power Plant?

[Mr Bean]

What about attacks on a Nuclear Power Plant?

As having been observed before, the cooling towers are spec'd to take planes at high speed.

Old Phantom test
Granted a 747 has a more mass, but it's estimated that the working parts of a nuclear power plant are under so many meters of concrete that damaging them is next to impossible with direct high grade explosives, IE 2000 kilo bombs with penetrator heads.

Your talking about places that cover a good square mile and while there are plenty of soft-targets all over the plant, actually hitting a nuclear power plant is next to impossible, most have at least a company or more of local defense forces. In the old Soviet union you might have as much a Regiment of troops stationed there with both anti-tank and anti-air weapons. And there are of course heavy reaction teams nearby. Even in the US there are normally about a hundred or more private guards on site at all times.

Attacking a modern nuclear power plant is one of the hardest targets in the world to hit.

[Zixinus]

Again, I am not asking the feasability of such an idea. I am only asking whether such has happened.

I do recall that there was once an attack on a NPP by green with a RPG.

[Mr Bean]

Again, I am not asking the feasability of such an idea. I am only asking whether such has happened.

I do recall that there was once an attack on a NPP by green with a RPG.

None that I am aware of outside protesters here in America trying to jump the fence from time to time.

[fnord]

Apologies for the thread necro, but I think the missile attack was on the containment dome of the French Superphenix reactor.

[K. A. Pital]

Yeah, there was. It was under construction at the time.

[Zixinus]

The necro is welcome, especially knowing the Superphenix name.

I am asking, because I wonder whether it would be an accurate statement that: "There have been so few cases of nuclear terrorism, even just by using so-called dirty bombs, that it is a negligible danger. Almost every nuclear power plant is guarded closely by either national or private security security, making it as hard target as a military base. Therefore, the consideration of using nuclear materials for terrorism and attacks on nuclear power plants have no realistic possibilities, thus not worthwhile arguments."

[Mayabird]

There could have been incidents that ended up classified for some reason or another and we won't know unless the documents are ever declassified (maybe some would-be terrorists did get ahold of some kind of highly radioactive material somehow and accidentally killed themselves with it). But as others have pointed out, the number of actual attacks is very low, especially considering the ridiculous fearmongering around it.